UK news outlet sparks outrage for cartoon comparing Jenin to Ukraine

British newspaper The Independent has stirred controversy and condemnation from the United Kingdom’s Jewish community after it published a cartoon on Wednesday comparing the week's IDF operation in Jenin to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Cartoonist Dave Brown, who drew the image, has previously come under fire for depicting Israel's former prime minister Ariel Sharon as a deformed monster consuming Palestinian children, imagery closely associated with blood libel.

Tomorrow's @Independent cartoon... #Jenin #JeninRefugeeCamp #JeninUnderAttack #Palestine #Israel #IsraeliOccupation pic.twitter.com/y8PZ7e7mwc

— Dave Brown (@DaveBrownToons) July 4, 2023

The cartoon depicts a Palestinian man lying face-down on the ground, surrounded by rubble with fighter planes flying above him. Clearly visible is a sign, with bullet holes, where “Jenin” is written, but the man has used blood to turn the word into “Ukraine.”

Next to the man, the cartoonist has inscribed “Can you see me now?” Implying that the plight of Palestinians is unseen because more interest is placed on the suffering of Ukraine. 

The cartoons was met with outrage from the Jewish community

A spokesperson from the Jewish Leadership Council told the Jewish Chronicle that the is “a clear attempt to deny Israel’s right to defend itself by casting a false equivalence between Ukrainians and armed Palestinian terrorists.”

UK Lawyers For Israel's (UKLFI) Jonathon Turner told The Jerusalem Post that "the messages conveyed by the cartoon in the Independent are completely false. Far from Palestinians being unnoticed, media coverage of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis is pervasive and massively disproportionate to other conflicts around the world. And Jenin is nothing like Ukraine - if anything it is the opposite. Distortions such as these drive up antisemitism."

A spokesperson from the National Jewish Assembly (NJA) also told the Chronicle that the organization was “outraged” by the depiction.

“Ukrainians are fighting because their territory has been invaded. They do not seek to destroy Russia and kill all Russians,” said NJA Chairman Gary Mond. “Palestinians are fighting to destroy the Jewish state and kill or expel the Jewish population. That is their clearly stated goal.

“That the Independent should publish such a cartoon that appears to draw an equivalence between Palestinian terrorists and Ukrainians is an insult to Ukraine and its people.

"Furthermore, the Israelis do not have any plans to kill innocent Palestinian civilians. Indeed, the recent Jenin operation is a textbook example of this. The Russians attacking Ukraine do not have any such restraints," Mond later told the Post.

Bias in the British media

Mond also accused British media of being biased against Israel, referencing a recent interview in which a BBC presenter told Naftali Bennett that the IDF is happy to kill children.

“In his recent TV interview, I thought Naftali Bennett did very well in his responses and others facing such hostile questions can learn from him. By far the most important message to convey is that the majority of Palestinian Arabs do not want any form of coexistence with Israel and would totally destroy the Jewish state if they could.”